Anglo-Saxons
By 410AD, the last of the Romans has left Britain so people had little protection against invaders. Tribes like the Jutes, Angles and Saxons began to invaded Britain, looking for land to farm. Their own countries were often flooded at the time so they needed to find somewhere to farm crops and animals for food. They came from Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. As the two biggest tribes were the Angles and the Saxons, the invaders became known as the Anglo-Saxons. Each tribe had its own head warrior who settled their tribe in different parts of the country. They created many new villages and gave them names. Did you know that they even named ‘Angle-Land,’ which is now England?
The Anglo-Saxons were excellent farmers. They grew wheat, barley and oats for making bread and porridge. They also grew fruit and vegetables like carrots, parsnips and apples, and kept pigs, sheep and cattle for meat, wool and milk.
They were a very resourceful people – everything had its use and nothing went to waste. Animal fat was used as oil for lamps, knife handles could be made out of deer antlers and even glue could be made from cows.
Vikings
The name 'Viking' comes from a language called 'Old Norse' and means ‘a pirate raid’. People who went off raiding in ships were said to be 'going Viking'. They are famous for their longboats, for trading and for conquering Britain. Not all Vikings were fierce warrious though and some came peacefully, to settle. They were farmers, and kept animals and grew crops. They were also skilful at crafting, and made beautiful metalwork and wooden carvings.
The Vikings first came to Britain from Norway, Sweden and Denmark around 787AD. When the people of Britain first saw the Viking longboats they came down to the shore to welcome them because they didn’t know they were enemies. At first, they just came to raid and take goods back to their homelands. The first place they raided was the monastery, Lindisfarne, in Northumbria. There was food, drink, cattle, clothes, tools, gold and jewels to be taken. They continued to carry out raids, stealing anything they could, including people for slaves. In 865AD, they invaded and finally conquered Britain because they needed more good land to survive, like the Anglo-Saxons before them.
By AD874, almost all of the kingdoms of Britain had been won by the Vikings. All except for Wessex, which was ruled by Alfred the Great. King Alfred beat the Viking army in battle but wasn't strong enough to drive the Vikings out of Britain completely. After years of fighting the Vikings and Alfred made a peace agreement. Even after the agreement, fighting went on for many more years. An imaginary dividing line was agreed to run across England, from London in the south to Chester in the north west.
Written by 4F
